Do you run retrospectives for your agile teams? Do you find that you struggle with ideas to keep the teams excited to participate in your retrospectives?
This presentation will include ideas that you can take back and use. Your teams will be excited and these ideas will help you generate great conversations.This meet-up has a focus on Agile PM. We will be discussing pragmatic solutions to real agile project problems. Just real PMs talking about the Agile and how we can solve daily challenges.

Agile is continuing to build momentum across a variety of processes, outside of the traditional solution delivery space. New frameworks are driving agile into the portfolio management space. The question often posed is whether Agile is the right approach for these processes. Research on the subject is inconclusive. However, research on what drives successful businesses is not inconclusive – begging the question of whether Agile practices work are effective for portfolio development and management. Come to this session to understand how Agile can best be used to support effective Portfolio Management. Research on Portfolio Management best practices will be provided and lined up with current Agile approaches. Recommendations will be provided to help companies understand how to leverage Agile and non-Agile practices in their business models.

Through a very interactive seminar combining lecture and workshops, participants will gain a much better idea of how best to deal with key risks on I.T. projects using both Agile approaches and traditional approaches.

Participants will learn:

Key definitions, concepts and PMBOK® Guide processes involving Risk

To define key risks in your I.T. projects

How to use Agile to resolve I.T. project’s problems

The types of projects and types of risks that are good candidates for using traditional (Waterfall) approaches

Servant Leadership is a lifelong journey. It’s a life and leadership philosophy…if truly lived, changes everything. A term coined by Robert Greenleaf that begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first. The conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. Who is the best leader you would follow? Servant Leadership isn’t about giving people everything they need regardless. Many leaders will be working within the constraints of a tight budget and with little time at their disposal. Let’s talk about the basic principles of Servant Leadership and understand the best test that is difficult to administer and yet so simple.

About the Program

Our federal government leaders have concocted a transformation that promises to turn the executive branch departments and agencies into lean and efficient organizations!

The first part of this presentation will introduce:
The legislative framework in place to drive the strategies that make the transformation a reality;
The federal strategy structure of cross-agency and agency priority goals that set the foundation to measure performance;
The governance bodies that coordinate the execution of the legal mandates across agencies;

The second part of the presentation will introduce:
Two key federal frameworks enabling the transformation
The still-evolving federal data strategy
The progress made over the first year (FY18)

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?
This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Futhermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Leadership, management, and motivation are not just metaphors, but things that the physicality of an endurance hike can inform…and it comes with beautiful trail pictures. 9 lessons from the trail remind us of how to self-manage and manage teams, all learned from the physicality of the trail. These lessons lead to a realization of a simple technique to manage personal motivation to take on challenges.

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Krupp (2018). Current price is $13.99 for the Kindle edition on Amazon. The book may also be available from your local library.

Even the best decision doesn't yield the best outcome every time. There's always an element of luck that you can't control, and there is always information that is hidden from view. So the key to long-term success is to think in bets: How sure am I? What are the possible ways things could turn out? What decision has the highest odds of success? Did I land in the unlucky 10% on the strategy that works 90% of the time? Or is my success attributable to dumb luck rather than great decision making?

Jason Stanford, Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA) will inform the Chantilly community about the Commonwealth of Virginia’s process to score, prioritize and fund transportation projects across the state. Participants will hear what projects have been funded and NVTA's recommendations for improving the process. Jason will also provide an overview of NVTA's approach to organizing stakeholders around transportation initiatives in Northern VA, and we'll learn what priorities NVTA has identified moving forward into 2019 and beyond.

Chris Grassmuck, PMP, CSM will share his journey as a Project Manager to Slovenia with IBM's Corporate Services Corps (CSC). Chris will describe his experiences as a Project Manager and ultimately how his wanderings lead him to a month-long adventure with 14 other professionals from all over the world coming together to help a few non-profits transform & grow. It starts with a dream, progresses with 12-weeks of pre-travel education and ends with a 30-day life-changing adventure.

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on Winning the Long Game will take place on Wednesday, February 27, 2019. We will meet in the first floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

The evolution of structures is driven by strategy.
Transforming structures to support the business is a continuous process.
The complexity is driven by time to market, the volume of change, and talent mix.
Resource fulfillment: bodies vs talent.
Are you solving the problem at the right level?
Be tactical and strategic.

About the Program

A good portion of our work week is spent in meetings that take more time and accomplish less than they could. We’ve all attended meetings we thought were a waste of time, where the person who called the meeting had no clear agenda, went off track, or droned on and on…and on. Afterward you may have wondered why there was a meeting at all. Worse, we may be the ones responsible for such meetings! This session will focus on how to facilitate productive meetings. Topics that will be discussed include:
• Pre-meeting planning
• How to create a solid agenda
• How to handle the meeting productively, and
• How to end a meeting

If you ever shudder when you either have to lead or attend "another meeting," this session is for you!

Rescue the Problem Project provides project managers, executives, and customers with an objective process for accurately assessing what is wrong and a clear plan of action for fixing the problem. Turnaround specialist Todd Williams has worked with dozens of companies in multiple industries resuscitating failing projects. In this book, he reveals an in-depth, start-to-finish process that includes: * Techniques for identifying the root causes of the trouble * Steps for putting projects back on track-audit the project, analyze the data, negotiate the solution, and execute the new plan * Nearly 70 real-world examples of what works, what doesn't, and why * Guidelines for avoiding problems in subsequent projects Many books explain how to run a project, but only this one shows how to bring it back from the brink of disaster.

So your organization is going “Agile” now and you are overwhelmed with all this terminology like backlog, user stories, sprint, daily stand ups, etc. Where do you start? What does it take to kick off your first Agile project? How do you setup your team for success? In this talk, we will explore the essential elements for kicking off your first Agile project and possible options to setup your team and project for success.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Futhermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meet-ups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

Do the people in your organization change because they are told to or need to? Do they resist? Any malicious compliance? Having fun yet?
In this session, techniques are described for deploying new practices across the organization, and then how to manage process, people and scope changes within an Agile project.

This two-day Agile Training course offers hands-on practices in Adaptive Planning, Product Roadmap and Backlog, Estimating Practices, and Agile Metrics for measuring and reporting on project progress.
The Introduction to Agile class will introduce the student to the key reasons why an Agile approach is so essential for many projects today. We will review the principle Agile methodologies in use today, define the different stakeholder roles on Agile projects, the stages of the Agile project lifecycle, and how Lean and Value-driven delivery is applied throughout the stages of the Agile lifecycle. As we discuss these concepts, we will review key Agile estimating methods, prioritization schemes for rating value, voting methods and decision-making techniques, and also key techniques for improving communications and team performance. The class will go through different case examples to discuss how the key Agile approaches and tools-techniques are used.

This two-day Agile Training course offers hands-on practices in Adaptive Planning, Product Roadmap and Backlog, Estimating Practices, and Agile Metrics for measuring and reporting on project progress.
The Introduction to Agile class will introduce the student to the key reasons why an Agile approach is so essential for many projects today. We will review the principle Agile methodologies in use today, define the different stakeholder roles on Agile projects, the stages of the Agile project lifecycle, and how Lean and Value-driven delivery is applied throughout the stages of the Agile lifecycle. As we discuss these concepts, we will review key Agile estimating methods, prioritization schemes for rating value, voting methods and decision-making techniques, and also key techniques for improving communications and team performance. The class will go through different case examples to discuss how the key Agile approaches and tools-techniques are used.

"True belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.” Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives—experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy.

Historically, federal delivery has been slow, late, incomplete, and over budget. Using modern development practices, agile, DevSecOps, cloud, etc., US Citizenship and Immigration Services has evolved over the past 6 years from yearly releases to production to daily production releases with zero down time on large applications with multiple teams. Joshua Seckel led and directed USCIS as the Applied Technology Division Chief where he was responsible for Quality Assurance, Independent Test, Enterprise Architecture, Release Management, and Agile Coaching for all of USCIS. He created and implemented the policies that allowed development teams to be able to move from waterfall slower delivery to DevSecOps delivery on par with many commercial companies. This discussion will look at the cultural and technical challenges and solutions that were found at USCIS during this transformation.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Futhermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meet-ups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

In Prediction Machines, the authors cast the rise of AI as a drop in the cost of prediction. The book shows how basic tools from economics provide clarity about the AI revolution and a basis for action by CEOs, managers, policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs. When AI is framed as a cheap prediction, its extraordinary potential becomes clear. The book follows its inescapable logic to explain how to navigate the changes on the horizon. The impact of AI will be profound, but the economic framework for understanding it is surprisingly simple.

This presentation will detail the many service offerings from both PMI and the PMI Washington, D.C. Chapter. It will show you how PMI resources can increase your knowledge, grow your network and advance your career.

About the Book Club Meeting

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on Agile Metrics in Action will take place on Wednesday, August 29, 2018. We will meet in the first-floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm.

Read more about the format of the book club in "About the Book Club" below.

About the Program

What is a key outcome of a project implementation? Change! Successfully implementing change requires systematic engagement of key stakeholders, managing risks, and effective communications. Project managers can establish a strong foundation for the project by developing a shared vision for the future state and then support the client to successfully navigate the change and sustain the gains.

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on Tribal Leadership will take place on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. We will meet in the first-floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm.

What is a key outcome of a project implementation? Change! Successfully implementing change requires systematic engagement of key stakeholders, managing risks, and effective communications. Project managers can establish a strong foundation for the project by developing a shared vision for the future state and then support the client to successfully navigate the change and sustain the gains.

About the Program

The rise of Agile is revolutionizing product development and is forcing organizations to change their view of management. Organizations are moving away from a command and control approach to management toward self-organizing, self-managing development teams. Decision making authority has moved down to where the information is, thus increasing decision speed and quality. This trend has resulted in a myth that managers aren’t needed in Agile organizations. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

If you experience any difficulties registering for this event, please call us at 703-683-4804 or email us at info@pmiwdc.org and include the name of the event.

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on The Truth Machine will take place on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. We will meet in the first-floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm.

Read more about the format of the book club in "About the Book Club" below.

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World? This meet-up has a focus on Agile PM. We will be discussing pragmatic solutions to real agile project problems. Just real PMs talking about the Agile and how we can solve daily challenges.

The rise of Agile is revolutionizing product development and is forcing organizations to change their view of management. Organizations are moving away a command and control approach to management toward self-organizing, self-managing development teams. Decision making authority has moved down to where the information is, thus increasing decision speed and quality.

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on Fifty Quick Ideas will take place on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. We will meet in the first-floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

Read more about the format of the book club in "About the Book Club" below.

About the Book
Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your Retrospectives by Ben Williams and Tom Roden (2015) Current price is under $10.00 for the Kindle version on Amazon. The book may also be available from your local library.

Join PMIWDC and begin your training program to hone the four superpowers every project manager has within themselves to become a Most Valuable Project Leader (MVPL). This interactive session will help you jumpstart your career with a professional bang as you learn how to leverage your personal team leadership super powers. Come prepared to participate in a scrimmage session that will help you flex your project leader muscles as you:

About the Seminar

This amazing training integrates the best of Agile with materials based on the Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" and extends it to Agile Government contracting and program management in total compliance with the FAR, DFARS, and OMB mandates. Making the Agile transition for many has been difficult and legally risky. Until now, that is! In this class, you will receive simplified, expert guidance for legally applying Agile contracting standards to any program.

About the Presentation

This talk will discuss the cultural changes that were made at USCIS in the adoption of modern agile development practices. The discussion will include the successes and challenges of changes in an organization that has significant inertia in existing development practices and the changes that need to be made within both the IT and business organizations. The overall framework of change and recommendations will complete the discussion. It will be followed by an open interactive discussion with question and answers.

About the Event

When organizations are ready to adopt Agile at the enterprise level, people are resistant to organizational changes and have a fear of change due to loss. The organizational change could not take effect if management ignores people’s fear of change. The workshop uses Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to help audience recognize signs of fear and understand what caused the fear. In addition, the workshop will practice on how to use both self-actualization and NLP Logical Levels of Change methods to deal with the fear due to changes.
Outcome:
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About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on Stretch will take place on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. We will meet in the first-floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

Read more about the format of the book club in "About the Book Club" below.

About the Book
Stretch: Unlock the Power of Less – and Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined by Scott Sonenshein (2017) As of this writing the price is $15.94 for a hardback version on Amazon. The book may also be available from your local library.

About the Presentation

If you want to strengthen teams and get better results having managers who the coach is key.

But in the past, it’s been difficult for busy managers to shift from the traditional management style of telling people what to do rather than taking on the coaching approach of asking. Why? In today’s world managers are stretched more thinly than ever before, continually finding themselves stuck with just too much on their plate. They don’t have time to add another task to their job description but need to coach someone fast and as part of the work they already do - not in addition to it.

About the Book Club Meeting

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on The Inevitable will take place on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. We will meet in the first-floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

Read more about the format of the book club in "About the Book Club" below.

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting on How Google Tests Software will take place on Wednesday, February 28, 2018. We will meet in the first floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

Read more about the format of the book club in "About the Book Club" below.

About the Book
How Google Tests Software by James A.Whittaker and Jason Arbon (2012) As of this writing the price is $23.66 for a paperback version on Amazon. The book may also be available from your local library.

During this session, different models for assessing agile team maturity and approaches to generate a coaching action plan, will be discussed. Focus will be placed on the TDA (Team Diagnostic Assessment) from Team Coaching International and if time permits, Mr. Nkomba will also discuss the U.S. federal Government’s Digital Services Playbook.

About the Program

The typical sweet spot for an agile team is 7 people +/- 2. What challenges are faced when your project has 20+ developers and how did we handle it ? Join Edmond Joe and Shannon Griffith as they share their insights and stories of what worked for them.

About the Book Club Meeting

The PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 31, 2018. We will meet in the first floor meeting room in the offices of CACI from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

About the Program

ServiceNow’s Jakarta release of its IT Business Management (ITBM) Solution leverages a common platform, a configuration management database, and resource capabilities to align strategy with critical business and technology services, programs, and applications. Project and Portfolio managers are talking about using a common platform, flexible workflow, and configurability as prominent features that are helping them to deliver on their strategic technology portfolios. A demo of the Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Suite will highlight:

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Event

For too long, traditional classroom instructions have been created on the assumptions that they should be fact based. In the corporate world too, most of the training and lecture content is printed on power point slides. Some might not know that this is not the most effective way to teach or learn. The problems we face with this approach are, learners lose interest during the training or lecturing session and/or they can not retain the information given to them. Various researchers have shown brain based learning techniques are most helpful. Brains normal process is to learn new information or enhance any information. As long as our brains are not prohibited from fulfilling its normal process, learning will occur.

About the Program

We will demonstrate how behaviors can be used to understand project challenges and people analytics can be used to recover projects in trouble.

We will use a mini case study approach to engage participants in exploring the contribution of behaviors to common project problems, e.g., cost overruns, schedule delays, organizational power struggles and politics, and resourcing conflict.

Participants will then be invited to identify the relative benefits of having project teams created on the basis of work area representation, versus technical knowledge and skills, versus behavioral composition.

In this way, participants will learn a new way to increase the probability of project success from inception.

About the Program

When managing a project within your own organization, or a client’s, a project manager may encounter stakeholders with priorities that do not align. For instance, one stakeholder may view a project as a necessary investment, while another may view the project as a waste of time and money. If those priorities are competing, this can have a negative effect on the project’s outcome by causing delays, excessive frustration, or even project failure.

This presentation will review case studies from Afghanistan, teaching 8th graders and private sector clients to discuss techniques that will assess the stakeholder’s motivations and goals, and engage the stakeholder in a way that helps gain buy-in and minimizes the negative effect on the project and helps complete the project on time, within budget, and within scope.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Event

When organizations are ready to adopt Agile at the enterprise level, people are resistant to organizational changes and have a fear of change due to loss. The organizational change could not take effect if management ignores people’s fear of change. The workshop uses Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to help audience recognize signs of fear and understand what caused the fear. In addition, the workshop will practice on how to use both self-actualization and NLP Logical Levels of Change methods to deal with the fear due to changes.

About the Presentation

Over the last 5 years, Agile approaches have seen widespread adoption across the US Federal Government. Where real commitment is given to proven Agile frameworks and techniques, programs do see significant improvement in value delivery and speed. But unfortunately often, ‘Agile’ nomenclature is used while perpetuating behaviors that make real improvement impossible and may actually make the lived experience worse for participants or stakeholders. And where Agile approaches fail, they add to a narrative that real methods won’t work in this environment. Many of the anti-patterns I’ve seen working as a Coach in the Public Sector are rooted in decisionmakers clinging to 5 myths about Agile in Government. This talk will explore these 5 myths, and some approaches for dealing with them.

About the Event

The Federal Government is increasingly mandating the application of Agile software development across its technical acquisition programs. This trend comes from the realization that iterative and incremental development and delivery of software-intensive systems lowers costs, compresses schedules, improves quality, and delivers capabilities better aligned to the needs of system stakeholders and end users. However, two factors typically cripple Federal Agile development projects: the application of traditional program management, IT governance, acquisition, and contracting practices incompatible with Agile; and difficulty scaling Agile practices to deliver large-scale, highly complex systems.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Program

The audience will learn it is OK to have a fear when undergoing organizational changes. The workshop provides exercises to help the audience identify their fear, the cause of the fear, and learn how to overcome the fear during organizational changes such as scaling to enterprise Agile. We expect the audience to walk away with a method they can use to deal with their fear due to changes.

About the Program

Agile Government does not need to be an oxymoron. In fact, Agile is congruent with our Government leaders' directives and acquisition regulations. However, execution often lags the setting of direction and the passing of laws and regulations. Large and bureaucratic organizations are slow to change. This session looks at what is driving Agile in the Government, the essential criteria for success with Agile, and common challenges and obstacles..

About the Presentation

The Standish Group has published its annual CHAOS Report on the state of software development since 1994. The Report is often cited as a key metric for the industry's performance and progress and draws much attention.

Analyzing the long-term trends provides an interesting perspective. On average only 29% of projects “succeed” and 23% “failed”. Over the past two decades, there has been little change in these headline results.

However, when you dive into the data there are some bright spots and markers for the future improvement:

Product discovery is a process that helps us make sure we're not just creating products that are usable, but also useful. The notion of requirements and design as a sequential, predictable and scheduled phase in a product development process is so ingrained in our industry that it’s often one of the most difficult habits for product organizations to break. Product organizations need to come to terms with the fact that the product invention process is fundamentally a creative process. It is more art than science. The session will present an opportunity to learn techniques in interactive, hands-on exercises.

About the Program

It's the number one complaint of project managers -- I have all this responsibility and no authority. We have extraordinary authority! But the key is to leverage it. The challenge is ensuring that we acknowledge and apply the right types of authority in the right situations. It's a matter of exerting influence. Carl Pritchard takes us through the mechanics of influence and a few basic steps we can take to make sure we're influencing the right people...the right way.

About the Presentation

Ultimately the allocation of scarce resources should be tied to the Strategic goals and objectives of an organization. In large organizations, such as the Department of Defense (DoD) or Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), there are substantial management and business processes in place in an effort to get the most bang for the buck. These processes include Planning, Programing, Budgeting, Execution, Policy, Acquisition, and many more. The implementation of all of these processes ultimately rests on the shoulders of a Program Manager and skills in managing his or her program. But let’s back up a minute. What is a Program? Across the Federal Government, is there a common definition of what one is? How does a program get started? How does it tie into the “big picture”? Is there a portfolio of programs built upon a portfolio owner’s strategy?

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Program

Ever wonder what it takes to build your child’s school? This presentation will take you on the construction journey of a new school, from concept to the first day of class. You will learn about funding mechanisms, project delivery methods, timelines, design, and construction challenges, furnishing and equipping, and executing a project in the public domain.

About the Presentation

Trust is easy to gain, but just as easy to lose. It's our nature to quickly decide whether we have faith in a product or media based on its appearance. We decide in less than a second whether we trust something or not based purely on visual information, but a poor experience can taint that trust forever.

Jason explores the traits that make an experience trustworthy, when to integrate considerations of trust into design thinking activities, and how to explain decisions made based on improving trust.

TAKEAWAYS

How viewers look at visual and interactive signals to build trust in the experience and product.

How to assess designs based on how the viewer will trust its visual and interactive messages.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Program

Applying LEAN Methodologies in healthcare is all about experiencing healthcare from the patient's point of view and working to remove steps in the process that the patient does not find valuable. Come and learn more about LEAN methodologies and hear from two Project Managers at ValleyHealth about some of the LEAN initiatives being implemented at ValleyHealth.

About the Presentation

We will demonstrate how behaviors can be used to understand project challenges and people analytics can be used to recover projects in trouble.

We will use a mini case study approach to engage participants in exploring the contribution of behaviors to common project problems, e.g., cost overruns, schedule delays, organizational power struggles and politics, and resourcing conflict.

Participants will then be invited to identify the relative benefits of having project teams created on the basis of work area representation, versus technical knowledge and skills, versus behavioral composition.

In this way participants will learn a new way to increase the probability of project success from inception.

About the Event

This Event Has Been Cancelled

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

About the Presentation

About the Event

Do you have questions about Agile and how to get your teams to understand concepts? There are many methods to get teams to understand and embrace Agile.

Unlike other meet-ups, this is not a lecture. Instead, we will have coaching expertise to introduce a game in which we will all participate. The goal is that you will learn Agile concepts from game participation. In addition, you will be able to take what you have learned back to your teams.

About the Presentation

Dr. David F. Rico will give a presentation on "Business Value of Agile Organizations: Strategies, Models, & Principles for Enterprise-Level Agility," which are emerging models for successfully managing 21st century human-capital, knowledge, and Internet technology-intensive global businesses. Dr. Rico will establish the context, provide a definition, and describe the value-system for lean and agile organizational strategies. He'll provide an overview and comparative analysis of major lean and agile frameworks, models, principles, and practices. He’ll then introduce a meta-model for achieving business-level agility based upon best-of-breed values, principles, and practices discussed herein. He'll also provide a brief survey of the costs, benefits, and performance results achieved by lean and agile organizations.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Program

As our world becomes increasingly virtual and mobile, effective communication has become increasingly more challenged. Remote communication makes it’s harder to build relationships, gain trust, and create empathy. However, the benefits of working virtual and mobile still outweigh any negative impacts to communication.

This session will discuss strategies and tactics for improving project communications for virtual and mobile staff. We’ll also review technology tools that can increase effectiveness when working virtual and mobile.

About the Event

Do you run retrospectives for your agile teams? Do you find that you struggle with ideas to keep the teams excited to participate in your retrospectives?

This presentation will include ideas that you can take back and use. Your teams will be excited and these ideas will help you generate great conversations.

About this Meet-Up:

This meet-up has a focus on Agile PM. We will be discussing pragmatic solutions to real agile project problems. Just real PMs talking about Agile and how we can solve daily challenges related to retrospectives.

About the Presentation

Network interaction modeling is a unique approach to analyzing business operations and understanding the interactions across an organization. With the growing pressure on organizations to do more with less – and more quickly than ever before – Network Interaction Modeling’s ability to save time and resources through targeted process and business unit improvement is increasingly relevant. NIM allows executives to dynamically view an organization’s interactions, from across the enterprise all the way down to specific, targeted connection. Its intuitive presentation, customizable quantitative analysis capabilities, and unique enterprise approach enable rapid, one-of-a-kind insight, driving change to an agency’s mission.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

You’ve already put a great deal of work into preparing a solid business case for your project or idea. But when it comes to the critical presentation phase, how do you earn the support of decision makers in the room? How do you present your case so that it’s clear and straightforward while also persuasive?
This presentation introduces a practical framework for developing Executive Briefings and Presentations on the contents of your Business Case. Participants will explore a step-by-step approach to designing concise, information-packed presentations using Strategic Business Case Canvas that provides structure and visual guidance for creating powerful presentations.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Event

Are you running into issues using Agile methods on your project? Do people argue over who should attend which meetings? Do you have unanswered questions about how Project Managers fit into the Agile World?

This meetup is for people who have discovered the path to agile methods is not the easy street that was promised. We will learn from other project leaders which issues are common, and which are unique to your context. Furthermore, we’ll collect from each other several ideas for how to overcome those issues.

Unlike other meetups, this is not a lecture. Instead, our facilitator will create an interactive exchange of which issues are bothering you, and which tips have worked for others. Please come to learn, share and experience conversations that will yield actionable tips for common issues with Agile methods.

About the Seminar

Uncertainties are everywhere and they are unavoidable. Learning to “look around corners” is a critical PM skill, but it is a journey not a destination. Fortunately there are many tools and techniques to help you on your way.

This interactive, participatory seminar will help you build a risk management toolbox for your journey. In one day you will be introduced to common, standards-based risk management process frameworks and techniques, you will practice what you have learned using small group case studies and you will leave armed with a practical collection of broadly applicable risk management tips, tricks, and techniques.

About the Program

How do you manage the up and coming generation? How do you manage someone who has already retired? What about someone who is a part-timer? Come and listen to Ray Cowan, General Manager of Chick-fil-A in Winchester as he presents tricks of the trade in striking a chord managing multiple generations.

Join us for our first breakfast time event for the PMIWDC Shenandoah Valley Community, earn a PDU, and network with other Project Management Professionals in the Shenandoah Valley. Light breakfast will be served.

About the Presentation

There are many reasons why experienced professionals may decide to start searching for a new position. Once you've identified that it's time to move on to the next challenge, embarking on a job search can seem overwhelming!

This presentation will offer insights on effective, successful search strategies, whether looking for your next contract opportunity or full-time position. From developing your brand and updating resumes to effective networking and research activities, this presentation will offer practical, actionable advice that will make your search what is should be...fun!

About the Presentation

Product and service development programs are overrunning and failing at an ever increasing rate. A primary cause is the failure to identify cost, schedule and performance issues before they become obvious later in development, and are costly and time-consuming to address.

An extensive analysis of over 500 programs has revealed a new, radical and comprehensive approach to risk identification, greatly improving both risk identification and risk management. Program Risk ID embodies several major improvements in risk identification, creating a comprehensive, standardized, and objective risk management tool. Program Risk ID can be used on one program or a program portfolio for direct risk identification measurement and trending through time.

About the Seminar

Government contracting and project management always shared two common approaches – Traditional and Agile. However, the Clinger-Cohen Act (Pub. L No. 104-106, 1996) made Agile practices mandatory. Making this transition for many has been difficult and legally risky. Until now.

Morning Session:

Learn to Agile fundamentals and map vocabulary to the PMBOK Guide®.

Understand how to apply Agile principles to execution of government contracts.

See how Agile architectural and engineering practices are used in government projects.

Apply advanced Agile practices to program and portfolio-level scheduling.

About the Book Club Meeting

The
PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch
on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our
meeting on “Effective Work Breakdown Structures" by Gregory T. Haugan will
take place on Wednesday, September 30, 2015. We
will meet at the community room in the 1st floor Conference Room at L-3
from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

About the Presentation

We learn in school that all situations may be analyzed by focusing on: who, what, when, where, how and why. In today’s pressure driven performance climate, we seem to have forgotten these time-tested communication rules and focus efforts on the first three. Sometimes the boss simplifies the “rules” by asking: “who will do what by when? This is especially true when resources are scarce and schedules tight.

About the Book Club Meeting

The
PMIWDC Reston Book Club is a forum for talking about books that touch
on the widely varied challenges of project and program management. Our
meeting on “Managing the Telecommuting Employee: Set Goals, Monitor Progress, and
Maximize Profit and Productivity" by Michael Amigoni and Sandra
Gurvis will take place on Wednesday, August 26, 2015. We
will meet at the community room in the 1st floor Conference Room at L-3
from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

About the Event

THE FOLLOWING EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Sometimes the most difficult part of a project is figuring out where to start. Who should I engage? What deliverables should I develop? How should I invest my time? Ideally, there is clear direction about how to progress from the beginning. More frequently, there are many ambiguities and conflicting direction. How you start out on a project can lay the groundwork for success… or take you down the path to failure. During this luncheon discussion, Scott will share some thoughts, suggestions, and real-life experiences about how best to start when you are trying to bring order to chaos.

About the Program

Project managers are supposed to “fix” projects that veer off target. However, large complex projects have many moving tasks; how do you know you are solving the actual problem and not just the tip of the iceberg? Are you rectifying the root cause, or simply calming the waters? Do stakeholders and team members take ownership of the challenge or spend time playing blame games? This tools session offers you a four point approach to help you and your team to determine the real issue causing the problem and generate a creative solution that successfully gets your project back on course.

The PMBOK defines risk as ‘an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives such as scope, schedule, cost or quality’. Known and unknown risks can impact projects significantly if not addressed. If risks are not identified, they cannot be addressed. If a risk costs $1000 to address early in a project, studies show that cost can increase to $300,000-$500,000 later in the project when hardware, software or both must be modified. Program risk identification is usually an ad hoc, non-comprehensive exercise. An extensive analysis of hundreds of programs has revealed a common set of program risks. By evaluating projects with a standard, comprehensive set of risks, projects can significantly reduce the monies required to address known and unknown risks.

About the Presentation

A simple definition of change is “to cause to be different”. The idea of change management on a personal level has been studied for more than one hundred years. However, it is only since the mid-1980’s that change management has been explored within the context of business applications. Leading successful change has become a business necessity, driving bottom-line results in systems, processes and behaviors. Dealing with change has therefore become a critical skill for leadership, management and workers in an organization.

Creating and implementing a new strategy requires an approach consistent with the unique needs of the organization. The strategy serves as the guiding framework, providing direction and shaping decision making throughout the change process.